


I Worry Ya Know?

by blackmaurs



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Based off a Twitter Prompt for Angst, Hurt/Comfort, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes Needs a Hug, M/M, Other, POV James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Platonic or Romantic it’s up to you :), Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Rhodey just really loves Tony Okay?, Rhodeytony Day, Soft Boys, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony really loves Rhodey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 10:51:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20290255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackmaurs/pseuds/blackmaurs
Summary: Some part of Rhodey’s brain is frantically telling him he’s overreacting. Repeating over and over that this wasn’t like the palladium poisoning. Tony’s not dying, he’s not currently at risk of dying, he’sfine.The only problem is that he has to be told this by Steve Rogers of all people.





	I Worry Ya Know?

**Author's Note:**

> Based entirely off a tweet I made on the fly to this original  
[tweet](https://mobile.twitter.com/stankrhodes/status/1162837830168666112)  
by @stankrhodes for Rhodeytony day and Angst. This is for them and y’all respectively :)

Some part of Rhodey’s brain is frantically telling him he’s overreacting. Repeating over and over that this wasn’t like the palladium poisoning. Tony’s not dying, he’s not currently at risk of dying, he’s _fine._ The only problem is that he has to be told this by Steve Rogers of all people. 

Despite being a literal phone call and a five minute ride in War Machine away, he had to be told, five hours later no less, that a weird alien parasite had temporarily attached itself to Tony’s arc reactor during battle was slowly syphoning off its energy for less than thirty minutes before it was quickly removed without fuss or urgency. They checked him for lingering effects, Tony had done so as well, and all it had truly done was make him more tired than usual. It wasn’t brutally and slowly killing him, hadn’t left any diseases or eggs, it had just made him extremely tired. That’s it. It wasn’t that big of a deal. Rhodey, to some degree, knows this. However, that doesn’t stop Rhodey from seething quietly on the couch in the living room area at the Avengers Tower, knees bouncing with nervous energy as he waits for Tony to get back.

He’s not sure what he’ll say. Not really sure he should say anything at all because if he says what he’s thinking he’ll regret it five seconds later. That call from Rogers had spooked him. It spooked him bad. Only it’s worse somehow. With the palladium situation, he could tell something was wrong, and though he wasn’t aware Tony was actually dying that time and Tony had done his best to put a front up like he wasn’t, he still knew. This? Tony could’ve died five hours ago and Rhodey would’ve never known until that call. Tony would’ve never told him. And that’s what he’s truly angry at. Tony didn’t tell him. Again, Rhodey doesn’t expect Tony to call him every time something vaguely bad happens. They’re both incredibly busy different things and Rhodey realizes he doesn’t call him all the time when something goes wrong either. But seeing his best friend with those ugly black lines crawling up his neck, the sheen of sweat and hazy look in his eyes as he tries to reassure him he’s fine when he’s not is interfering with all his thoughts of logic and reason, leaving room for nothing else.

His posture stiffens immediately when he hears the tell-tale sound of incoming repulsors making their way towards the roof. Rhodey glances up and sees a glint of hot rod red and gold appear before disappearing on the roof. He gets up, walking back and forth briskly until he heard the elevator ding and doors reveal a grinning genius.

“Hey, Rhodey!” he exclaims, sauntering over to the seething man. “Finally got back. Alien worms are fucking disgusting by the way. They kinda looked like shrimp and I know you said you were ordering some for dinner but I'm really not fee—”

Rhodey ignores his rambling, walking in what he assumes is a very threatening manner because Tony stops his rambling and looks at Rhodey with puzzlement. “Uh, Rho—”

Rhodey grabs him by the arms tightly, forcing Tony to stand still before he begins checking him for any sign of life-threatening injuries. He finds himself yanking his shirt down, which Tony squawks and flails at, checking for black lines he knows aren’t there anymore before doing the same to his neck. 

“Honey Bear?” Tony says carefully once Rhodey’s done with his own full body examination. “Is something wrong?”

Rhodey straightens up, eyes narrowed at Tony before he steps back and proceeds to pace restlessly across the floor, a hand coming up to rub harshly at the back of his head before balling them up into fists. 

Rhodey sees Tony slowly trying to approach him before stopping altogether to cross his arms and fix him with a worried gaze. “Are you...are you mad at me or something?” he asks, and it sounds so genuinely innocent and concerned that Rhodey wants to punch him for his obliviousness.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Rhodey mutters quietly, stopping so he’s a couple of feet from Tony but not facing him directly.

“Tell you what, Platypus?” He asks and somehow the use of the nickname pisses him off even more.

“The fucking alien parasite, Tony!” He explodes. Tony startles visibly at his shift in demeanor, and he watches as Tony goes from startled to confused humor.

“That thing?” He says like he’s surprised that Rhodey is angry about it. “I didn’t even notice it. I just started feeling kinda tired and when we were in decontamination like 25 minutes later I noticed it on the arc reactor. It took like all of two minutes to get it off and it didn’t leave any lasting effects,” he moves towards Rhodey in an open-armed hug with that careless smile on his face. “I’m totally fine Sour Pa—”

Rhodey does something he’s never even considered doing and quickly dodged out of the path of Tony’s hug. Tony falters, the hurt flashing quickly on his face before it’s replaced by a soft frown. 

“Alright,” he says, clearly picking up the lack of friendliness in the air. “What’s going on with you. Are you possessed or something because I’m really not liking this Rhodey who rejects my hugs.” It’s meant to be teasing quip to defuse the situation but Rhodey is far from done with this conversation and he’s not sure he can stop at this point.

“Five hours,” Rhodey says quietly, the anger quickly rising up again. “I had to wait _five hours_ to find out from _Rogers_ of all people, that some alien fucking parasite was syphoning off the thing that is currently keeping you alive.”

Tony has the gall to scoff. “Not to be that guy, but it really wasn’t that serious, Rhodey. It was handled quickly. It would’ve had to be on there for like three days to do any real damage.”

“That’s not the fucking point!” Rhodey shouts. “You didn’t tell me something was wrong when I was a phone call away Tony. Once again you do your damndest to keep me out of the loop of shit like this!”

It’s not really true. Rhodey knows it’s not. Tony, as reluctant as he is to talk about his own problems, has done his best to keep Rhodey in the loop because he trusts him. There are instances where he can’t do it immediately and Rhodey understands but Tony always tries to keep him up to date as soon as he can. So why was this different? His answer comes when a flash of black lines marring sickly olive skin clouds his mind, the worry and absolute terror come flooding back all at once.

Tony’s not trying to crack jokes anymore and looks just about as angry as Rhodey does, shoulders squared defensively. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re reckless!” Rhodey exclaims, almost hysterically. “The drinking,” Tony flinches, “The drugs in college,” Another flinch, and Rhodey can’t seem to stop, “sleeping with people with people shouldn’t,” why can’t he get rid of the black lines? “The goddamn palladium poisoning and you almost dying, and now this? When will you stop being so fucking _useless_ and just tell—”

He stops immediately when he hears what he just said. Tony looks like he’s been slapped across the face and Rhodey wants to vomit. Useless. Rhodey has called Tony many things, mostly out of jest, but never once has he dared called Tony useless, not even as a joke. Because that’s what Howard would call him every time they spoke and Rhodey remembers the nights he would spend with Tony in college where he would cry and sob until he fell asleep wishing his father would just stop seeing him as useless. And Rhodey, his best friend through it all, had just uttered those same words to him.

“Tony,” he says, and he’s shaking so damn hard, voice wavering. “Tony, I—shit...I—”

“Why would you...?” Tony has his arms wrapped tightly around his torso, hugging himself, and he wants so badly to run to him and apologize but that’s not something he can just apologize for. That’s years of hurt he just unintentionally threw back in his face without mercy or preparation.

Tony is blinking rapidly, brown doe eyes filling with tears until they spill across his cheeks. “Why...you have never..._never_ called me that. Not even as a joke. That’s not...” he sags to the floor and sits there looking down at his hands before fixing his teary gaze back at Rhodey who feels like he’s been gutted.

“Can I fix it?” Tony asks desperately. He crawls his way towards Rhodey and clings to his legs like a lifeline. “Please...what can I...what—I’m sorry—just...please don’t call me that again Rhodey I’m sorry—I thought I was doing better at this swear...but—please,” he sobs softly. “What did I do?”

Nothing, Rhodey’s thoughts supply. The slightly more rational part of his brain has gained control and he realizes the situation. Years of old hurts had just been dumped on Tony by him, either shattering or severely cracking any sense of comfort or self-assurance he had helped build with him, all because he was deathly, horribly afraid of Tony dying without his knowledge, and this very situation had triggered a reminder of what had once happened. That was it. Tony hadn’t deserved any of this and the despair at what he had done finally took its toll.

Rhodey’s knees buckle and he nearly falls on top of Tony until he’s seated on the floor, heavy sobs racking his entire body. Tony looks at him bewildered and hesitantly reaches out a hand to touch Rhodey’s cheek gently.

“Rhodey?” He rasps with concern. “Honey Bear?”

He doesn’t deserve any of that concern and it only makes him cry harder. He surges forward and wraps Tony in a bone-crushing hug, not willing to let him go. 

“I’m so sorry, Tones,” he sobs, crying into dark curly locks. “I’m so damn sorry.”

Tony is stiff in his arms but he relaxes slightly and tries pulling back to look Rhodey in the eyes. “Rhodey...wha—?”

“Do you know how damn scared I am of losing you and not knowing about it?” Rhodey interrupts, rubbing harshly at his stinging eyes to keep the tears from continuing to fall. “Ever since that palladium poisoning, and finding out that you almost died I just—” he shudders and buried his head further into Tony’s hair. “I’ve been scared shitless, that one day I’m gonna get the call, and they’ll say you died hours ago when I was available to help, available to do _something._ When Rogers called I nearly lost it. It was too damn similar to the palladium and I just got so angry because I kept thinking you should’ve told me or let me know, but...that’s not always how that’s gonna work. I’ve trusted you to keep me in the loop, and you have _,jesus,_ I should’ve never—”

“Rhodes,” Tony says softly. 

Rhodey looks up at him and there’s the barest hint of a sad smile on his face, tears still flowing freely from his doe eyes. “I think...I think I get. You don’t have to keep apologizing, but if you feel like you need to you can. But I’m gonna talk for a sec, yeah?”

Rhodey nods immediately and listens with rapt attention. Tony only smiles more and carefully places both his hands on Rhodey’s cheeks and gently begins to swipe away at the tears in his eyes.

“You’re right to say I’m reckless,” Tony begins with a quick sniffle.

Rhodey opens his mouth to protest but Tony quickly quiets him. “No, you’re right. I can name over a million examples and so can you. It doesn’t matter the good intent it’s still reckless,” he exhales shakily and grips his cheeks a little firmer. “But I can’t promise I will stop. I can’t promise I will always let you know when I get myself into some dangerous or life-threatening situation. And it’s not fair of you to expect me to do so cuz things happen spur of the moment and it’s not always realistic or logical of me to do so in said moments.”

Rhodey nods despite the spike of fear it sends through his chest. He’s right though. He knows that. Still—

“But,” Tony continues. “It’s not fair of me to stay oblivious to your fears either.”

Rhodey’s eyebrow furrows at that. 

Tony sighs and absently smoothed his thumbs against Rhodey’s cheeks. “I...don’t like worrying you. You worried about me all throughout college and I figured if I stopped telling you about the dangerous shit you’d stopped worrying. Except,” he looks sheepish now. “I realize that probably only made the worry worse when I don’t tell you and you find out.”

Rhodey rolls his eyes and Tony pouts before flicking him in the nose. “Anyway,” Tony drawls, “I think I need to better at letting you know I’m okay. Even if it’s just a text with a thumbs up. I will let you know I’m doing okay and when I’m not. Or at least I’ll try.”

Rhodey sighs with a tired smile and nods. “That’s all I ask, Tones.”

Tony smiles too and wipes away the remainder of tears before leaning all his weight on Rhodey until he’s flat on his back with Tony on top, head tucked securely under his chin.

“Love you, Platypus,” he says softly.

Rhodey feels slightly more at ease for the first time today and plants a gentle kiss on the side of Tony’s head before wrapping his arms tightly around the super genius.

“Love you too, Tones.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is the fastest I have ever written a fic I am so proud. This Rhodeytony angst...oof...it’s so good and so heartbreaking and soft. I hope y’all loved it as much as I loved writing it it. Kudos and comments are appreciated!
> 
> -Maurs


End file.
